One large collection of Hoover products is open to the public. The Hoover Historical Center at 1875 E. Maple St. in North Canton is in the boyhood home of Hoover Co. founder William Hen...

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Public Hoover collection

One large collection of Hoover products is open to the public. The Hoover Historical Center at 1875 E. Maple St. in North Canton is in the boyhood home of Hoover Co. founder William Henry "Boss" Hoover, and is open March to November, Wednesday through Saturday. The Hoover Co. first established the center as a company museum in 1978 but turned over operations to Walsh University in 2004.The museum inherited many old Hoover products, company memorabilia and Hoover family effects over the years from the company along with vacuum cleaners from TTI's liquidation sale at the Hoover plant in 2007.The highlights of its collection include: Two rare 1908 Hoover Model O's, the first Hoover sweeper, at least one which still works; 1909 Senior, the first with front wheels behind the suction opening; 1930 and 1950 Hoover hand-held Dustettes, the 1926 Hoover Model 700, the first sweeper to use a rigid bar agitator; Hoover family furniture and photographs, the 1907 wedding gown of Boss Hoover's daughter-in-law Edna Seiler Hoover and former Hoover president H.W. Hoover Sr's personal Hoover Model 11 sweeper and clock.For more information, go to: www.walsh.edu/hoover-historical-center

Long before it became a brand owned by a Hong Kong company, the Hoover Co. was in North Canton. There it made iconic vacuum cleaners used in households around the world, and established a reputation of reliability, quality and longevity.

Today, many of those products are buried in landfills or gathering dust in basements, attics and thrift stores.

However, there are hundreds of old appliances and Hoover memorabilia to be found in private collections.

Tom Anderson, 41, of North Canton may have the largest collection of restored, working Hoover sweepers in the world — right in his basement.

Anderson, who's been called "Doctor Hoover" by his co-workers, estimates he has more than 450 Hoover vacuum cleaners, made from 1909 to 2009, of all types, including uprights, convertibles, handhelds and canister models along with replacement parts. He said he's restored all of them to working condition.

Hoover vacuum cleaners cover his basement floor and shelves. To maximize the space, Anderson hangs rows of colored Hoover Dial-A-Matics, Hoover Concepts, floor polishers and other sweepers upright and upside down on his basement walls — near his Christmas tree with the Hoover ornaments. Anderson also has several other Hoover appliances.

Any Hoover product made before 1988 — Anderson likely has it. And he refuses to collect other brands.

The second largest collection may be more than 350 miles away in an 11-room house in Pittston, Pa. John Long, 52, said he has about 350 Hoover sweepers, the ads for all the models and 100 other Hoover appliances.

Long said people who collect vacuum cleaners are no different from those who passionately collect cars.

As a boy he was fascinated with the look and sound of Hoover vacuum cleaners. His paper route money went to a 1975 Hoover 1076. Since then, acquaintances have given him unwanted Hoover products.

"One becomes two. It's like a hamster thing, and then it becomes seven, and your friends find out and they multiply," said Long, who'll acquire sweepers of other brands that he refers to as "other species" and "currency" so he can trade them to collectors for more cherished Hoovers. "When I was a little kid, I flipped the cleaner over and the bottom of (it), it says the Hoover Company, North Canton, Ohio, and I knew ... one day I would go there."

Long finally made his pilgrimage in 2008 when he attended a vacuum cleaner convention organized by Anderson in Canton to honor Hoover's 100th anniversary. Long said he kissed the ground on seeing the shuttered Hoover plant. He since has returned at least once a year to visit Anderson.

"I go to North Canton to visit the holy land," said Long. "When I die, I want to be cremated and buried in a C-bag, a genuine Hoover bag."